Mt Whitney Zone
I have a July permit for Yosemite's Glen Aulin trailhead. My hope is to spend the night at the Glen Aulin backpacker's campground - not the High Sierra Camp with the tent cabins and meal service, but the simple numbered sites where you pitch your own tent and cook your own food. Is this possible? Are those sites first-come, first-served? All the information I could find about Glen Aulin only mentions the High Sierra Camp.
Posted By: Bob West Re: Yosemite Glen Aulin backpacker's camp? - 06/15/16 01:24 AM
Glen Aulin trailhead is at Tuolumne Meadows, which indicates you would need to camp there before starting your hike. Unless someone else has better info.

http://www.yosemitehikes.com/tioga-road/glen-aulin/glen-aulin.htm
Posted By: saltydog Re: Yosemite Glen Aulin backpacker's camp? - 06/15/16 01:49 AM
If by "spend the night" you mean the night before your hike, then the TM backpackers camp is what you want. It is about across the road from the GA trailhead. The High Sierra camp is a few miles up the trail.
Posted By: saltydog Re: Yosemite Glen Aulin backpacker's camp? - 06/15/16 01:54 AM
There is also a "backpacker's campground" near the high Sierra Camp. THose are typically not numbered, just sort of informally cleared area near the HS camp.
Sorry I wasn't very clear. This will be a two-day, one night trip that starts and ends at Tuolumne Meadows with a single night at Glen Aulin. I'll be going with my daughter who's uncomfortable with the idea of pooping in the woods, so we chose to overnight at Glen Aulin where she can use the bathrooms.

We have a wilderness permit for Glen Aulin trailhead. We don't have nor want a reservation for the Glen Aulin high sierra camp nor the meal service - we're really only going there because of the bathrooms. :-)

I've only been to Glen Aulin once before, and it was after the High Sierra Camp had closed, so I'm probably confused about the setup. When I was there, there was a campground with maybe 40 numbered spots. Each site was just an empty patch of dirt. Maybe that's where the tent cabins normally are, but they'd been removed?

Wikipedia mentions there's a backpacker area: "It is possible to obtain wilderness permits and then camp in designated "backpacker" areas near each of the High Sierra Camps. This gives access to the lakes and rivers, and sociability of the camps if you wish, without having to participate in the lottery system." Is this the informally cleared area you mentioned, saltydog?

For increased privacy, would it be possible to camp 5-10 minutes walk outside the Glen Aulin camp, so my daughter can walk in as needed? It looks like it should be far enough from TM and the highway that dispersed camping is OK, but I'm not certain.
Posted By: saltydog Re: Yosemite Glen Aulin backpacker's camp? - 06/15/16 06:51 PM
Ok, your memory may be correct: that's more developed than most BP camps near HS Camps. YOu should double check with GA High Sierra camp iself on use of the bathrooms. Only they can tell you.
Posted By: saltydog Re: Yosemite Glen Aulin backpacker's camp? - 06/15/16 06:56 PM
THis site says there are pit toilets at the backpackers camp (probably like at the LYV BP camp) but that the flush toilets at the High SIerr Camp are for guests only:

http://www.yosemitehikes.com/tioga-road/glen-aulin/glen-aulin.htm
Once your daughter has experienced those pit toilets, her view on pooping in the woods might change.
Haha, yes. The pit toilets are OK, actually, and we've done similar stuff before. It's just squatting over a hole in the ground that she'd not ready to try. I'm just glad she's willing to come at all. :-)

So it sounds like the GA backpacker's area is probably an informal first come, first served arrangement similar to the Tuolumne Meadows backpacker's campground? If it were you, would you want to camp in that area or look for a more private spot a few minutes hike away - assuming there is one?
Posted By: QITNL Re: Yosemite Glen Aulin backpacker's camp? - 06/17/16 09:05 AM
You should be fine. I wouldn't stress it.

I'm not sure where you saw the numbered sites. If they were in the trees, close to the HSC apparatus, those are the tent cabin slots.

The backpacker's camp at Glen Aulin is another 100 odd yards to the north, more in the open, on a little granite bluff east above Conness Creek. You hike through the HSC to get to it. A quick skip to the loo when your kid needs to do the business.

I remember some numbers up there, but it was more Camp 4 than Upper Pines. Like you, I was there off-season. It was real nice, but I had it all to myself.

I remember going to the can. Struck me odd it was open after the HSC was packed up. I don't think it was a flush toilet - that wouldn't make sense. More like one of those Little Yosemite composting set-ups. Since I can't remember, it probably wasn't too gross. Otherwise I would have pooped in the woods.

"A more private spot a few minutes hike away" is kinda against the rule book. If you have a Glen Aulin pass, that's where you are allowed to camp. There's another "pass-through" pass that doesn't have that perk. The spot is real popular, they want to minimize damage. There are some other nice spots in that area, but you need to go another half mile or so and I ain't ain't posting that all random on the interwebs.

It's a nice fun hike, hope both of you enjoy it.
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